guru dutt week - pyaasa

certainly guru dutt's 1957 film pyaasa is his masterpiece. it was the first film of dutt's that i saw and it completely blew me away. pyaasa has one of most beautiful tear your heart out tragic songs of any dutt film, and it also has one of the funniest (johnny walker massaging a customer's scalp and playing bongos on his head). it is easy to see the main character of the film (the genius poet vijay, who is ignored by the public until after his death); as a metaphor, if not a direct reflection, of dutt's own life and career as an artist with a tenuous relationship to critics and the public.

pyaasa tell's vijay's story, which begins with his poems being sold as waste paper by his brothers; to his enormous fame as both a genius and a martyr, after he is mistakenly thought to have been killed by a train. there are scathing portrayals of greedy family, wealthy publishers, pompous poets, and "the public". there is condemnation of a culture that, presumbably influenced by the west, compromises on all fronts for want of money. the title roughly translates as "the thirsty one" and dutt's poet vijay is obviously thirsting for artistic and spiritual fulfillment in a world that, vijay (and dutt perhaps) believes, is no longer looking for such things. it's a stark film, but also a beautiful film. the one character of genuine goodness is gulabo, a prostitute played by waheeda rehman, who falls in love with vijay, and rescues his work. her relationship to vijay through his poems is dutt at his most passionate.

one interesting side note on film, is that it uses a plot device inspired, if not blatantly stolen, from the hollywood film sullivan's travels. in dutt's film vijay gives his jacket to a beggar who is then hit by a train and mistakenly identified as vijay because of the coat. in the 1941 preston sturges film, the same thing happens to joel mccrea's character. after vijay is presumed dead, dutt really begins to dissect what he must've felt was the hypocracy of the culture he was surrounded by. in the film, just as vijay (now thought to be dead) is being celebrated and memorialized as a genius; he appears at his own memorial to condemn the "worship" and adulation. his brothers, as well as the publisher who is making so much money on his "posthomus" poems, denounce vijay as a fraud and a riot ensues - as the adoring crowd would rather worship the martyr vijay than be confronted with him as a real human being. the poet escapes, finds gulabo, and they wander off into the sunset to find a new life. it is a difficult film, that somehow still contains hope.

the music is by s.d. burman, who also did the music for dutt's baazi, jaal, and kaagaz ke phool (one of the LP's i'm still looking for!). burman's soundtrack is one of his best.

here are the two songs mentioned in the first part of the post - both sung by the great mohammed rafi. click on the titles to hear:

first is the gorgeously sad jinhen naaz hai hind par (note the beautiful lap steel guitar)

and last, the hilarious sarjo tera chakraye.

after seeing this film in the early part of 2004, i ended up creating a sound/text installation called stills for guru dutt for the tang museum. it was the 40th anniversary of his death, and the 40th of my birth... and so ends guru dutt week....

guru dutt week...

today marks the 42nd anniversary of the death of one of my favorite film directors, the great indian cinema poet guru dutt; and so it seems a good time to share some of the cover art and songs from dutt's soundtrack LP's i've been collecting over the past few years.

dutt's films are a distinctly personal mix of poetic tragedy (think ingmar bergman) with comedic moments (think early rene clair), and, of course, musical numbers. his films are generally considered pioneering for his unique use of songs. for years, elaborate musical numbers were inserted into bollywood films as musical pauses, having little to do with the story lines. dutt was one of the first directors to make them integral to the narratives of his films; creating musical moments that were completely connected to the trajectory of the story lines.

although he is mainly famous for his directorial work, dutt also starred in many of his own films - a reluctant decision that came out of necessity for 1953's baaz. this led him to essentially become his own leading man (in fact one can't help but feel that the great playback singer mohammed rafi's voice is actually dutt's voice, as rafi's voice and dutt's face are connected in so many of dutt's films). dutt worked often with a small group of character actors who become familiar presences throughout his films... and almost every film has the comic genius of dutt's good friend, johnny walker. because dutt created his films within an existing studio system and structure, his vision is not always present on the surface of his work. his films break new ground quietly beneath the trappings of popular film.

here's a beautiful song from 1954's aar paar, one of dutt's most successful early films which seems heavily inspired by hollywood, and in particular, film noir. it's called ja ja ja ja bewfa and sung by dutt's wife, geeta dutt. it's a much slower version of the song most popular from the film called sun sun sun zalima click here and listen

guru dutt week - chaudhvin ka chand

chaudhvin ka chand was made in 1960 and starred guru dutt along side one of his leading actresses waheeda rehman. rehman has a large cult following similar to that of greta garbo in terms of a fanbase obsessed with her "transcendental" beauty.

in chaudhvin ka chand, a case of mistaken identity leads to guru dutt's character marrying the woman (waheeda rehman) that his best friend is in love with. there is an agonizing tension towards tragedy throughout; but it is also considered one of dutt's most passionate romantic films. because his previous film - kaagaz ke phool - was such a box office failure (although it is clearly one of his masterpieces), dutt stepped down from directing; and although chaudhvin ka chand was directed by m. sadiq, it is still generally considered dutt's film. certainly, his influence is felt everywhere in it.

the soundtrack has wonderful songs with music by ravi and lyrics by shakeel badayuni, with singing by mohammed rafi and asha bhosle, along with one track by geeta dutt. today's song is mera yaar bana bai dulha sung by mohammed raffi. click here to listen.

guru dutt week - C.I.D.

c.i.d. was made in 1956, and starred dev anand, shakila, and johnny walker. guru dutt produced the film, and raj khosla directed. dutt knew khosla, as he had assisted on several of dutt's previous films; and khosla had recently directed his first film, milap (also with dev anand). unfortunately milap was not the success khosla (and the production company) had hoped for. after milap's commercial failure, it was a credit to both dutt's generosity and his belief in khosla's potential that he decided to produce c.i.d. and hand the directorial duties to khosla. in light of khosla's minor reputation at the time, c.i.d. was a risk; but dutt's friend dev anand was already a star, and fortunately for everyone involved, music director o.p. nayyar was at the top of his game.

c.i.d is considered one of the great early bollywood crime thrillers, and khosla went on to be considered one of the great directors of hindi cinema. the movie is indeed a good one, but the songs really steal the show. nayyar had previously written the music for dutt's aar paar, and his distinct style is evident in both soundtracks. nayyar's songs gleefully borrow from western melodies, and there are strange enchanting moments where a bollywood song will suddenly fall into a few bars of "brazil" or in the case of c.i.d.'s yeh hai bombai meri jan, part of the main melody is clearly lifted from "my darling clemintine".

the soundtrack to c.i.d. is considered one of nayyar's greatest, and features mohammed rafi, geeta dutt, asha bhosole, and shamshad begum. because the cover art is so great, i've pictured both the LP and the 7" above. because the songs are so great, it didn't feel right to pick just one, so here are a few tracks from the LP. click on the titles and listen.

ankhon hi ankhon men geeta dutt & mohammed rafi

jata kahan hai diwane geeta dutt

leke pehla pehla pyar shamshad begum & mohammed rafi

yeh hai bombai meri jan geeta dutt & mohammed rafi

guru dutt week - mr. & mrs. 55

guru dutt's 1955 romantic comedy mr. & mrs. 55 contains one of the great comedic lines of indian cinema, when sita devi asks preetam in reference to his work, "are you a communist?" and he answers "no, a cartoonist".

the film centers around dutt as a down on his luck cartoonist, agreeing to marry anita (played by madhubala) so she can inherit a large sum of money. the plan, devised by anita's man hating aunt sita devi (played by lalita pawar) expects that the arranged marriage will end immidately after the money is inherited. the situation becomes complex once dutt and anita realize they are actually in love.

the film definitely took inspiration from preston sturgess, and the screwball romantic comedies of spencer tracy and katherine hepburn. while mr. & mrs. 55 is one of dutt's few out and out comedies, it also relates strongly to ideas carried through much of his work, particularly a strong disdain for many of india's social realities of the time. it's one of several of dutt's films where the main character is a struggling artist who is unable to make ends meet and whose genius is ignored by the public. ironically, this was one of dutt's first hits with both the public and critics.

this song, is titled preetam aan milo, and is sung by geeta dutt. it's actually a song that was a hit years before the film was even made, by a different singer, c.h. atma. geeta's version is dreamy, and i really like how they left some of the background sounds on the LP recording. click here and listen.

when paper flowers mirror life... and tragedy yields beauty...

in october of 2006 i did a week of posts celebrating my favorite indian film director, guru dutt. i posted images and songs from most of the soundtrack LPs, but at the time i didn't have anything from kagaz ke phool (one of his greater films, perhaps second only to pyaasa, which is definitely his masterpiece). this 7", a recent find, sparked a revisiting, and so for any completists our there (besides me...), here's a song from that film.

as with most of dutt's later films, kagaz ke phool (the title translates as 'paper flowers', and suggests not only the fragility of life, but also the fleetingness of fame...) is a relatively dark and depressing film, and very much connected to dutt's own tragic biography. the story centers on an aging movie director, who is unable to recapture the popularity of his earlier films with the public. he is lost in a loveless marriage, and because of circumstances, unable to be with the young actress he is truly in love with. scandals develop, people are selfish and ugly, and dutt is constantly criticizing the gossip and fame machines in the film world. the film is incredibly pessimistic in its view of fame. in the end, it is a classic tragedy of unfulfilled desires, and unappreciated genius, both of which unfortunately, mirrored the darkness of dutt's own late career. the last scene of the film shows the director in a kind of mental fog and physically unrecognizable to everyone around him, sitting alone, broken, in a darkened film studio, collapsing "to let the life flow out of him". five years later dutt would take his own life.

kagaz ke phool is certainly considered a masterpiece now, but at the time it was an enormous box office failure. the negative reception finally exhausted dutt's faith in the public ever embracing another of his films. it was the last film he would ever credit himself as director, fearing the public's dislike of his dark pessimism would keep any film with his name as director from having any success. the few films he made after kagaz, dutt is listed as a producer, even though you can see his hands all over the place in them. clearly he was more involved than credited. unfortunately even these films were met with relative disinterest.

kagaz ke phool is a powerful film in its own right, but in terms of its relationship to dutt's own life and beliefs, it is a difficult film to watch. it's an incredibly powerful film, but knowing dutt's biography, one has a sense he was very aware of the unfortunates life had in store for him.

the song here, waqt ne kiya, is sung by his wife, the amazing singer geeta dutt (although unintentional, in the context of the film's narrative this is highly ironic). it conveys beautifully all the sadness of such a melancholy love and the longing that unfolds with the story. dutt was a pioneer in this - using songs to enhance the emotional trajectory of the narrative, instead of simple festive breaks. for the film music, dutt worked again with composer s.d. burman, who wrote several great scores for him. of course, as you can hear, this song is an absolute gem...

click here to listen

a hill of the sprites, the dance of the drums, and some muted strings...

well, i'm off to norway for the 100th anniversary of grieg's death, to gather material for a piece that will happen in the fall. the distance means that the archives here will be gathering dust until may 7 when i return. it is unlikely i'll have email or internet access... so here's a few gems to tide things over...

first is an old RPPC of edvard grieg's cabin at troldhaugen (which translates as the "hill of the sprites"). i am hoping the end of my visit will include this small cabin where grieg composed much of his work. there's a nice story from an old article i found on grieg that said he liked to leave notes for potential burglers inside the small writing cabin asking them to leave the manuscript papers and take whatever else they might want... i'm hoping to make some recordings there.

the second is left turn from norway, from a 78 set of music by uday shankar that i picked up last week. shankar was an indian dancer/choreographer, and also ravi shankar's older brother. the thing that got me interested me in him was the fact that guru dutt got his artistic start as a young dancer in shankar's troupe. the recordings are probably from around the time shankar's troupe toured the states in the late 1930's / early 1940's. all of the sides are amazing, but "tabla-taranga" is absolutely unbelievable! the liner notes say it "is almost a musical miracle"... and i think they might be right! it is played by vishnudass shirali while sitting in the center of 12 tablas each turned to a different pitch, playing with "the grace of seagulls on wing". it almost sounds like a string instrument and is totally from another world (i'll probably post the whole set on juju when i get back in town...)

click to listen to tabla-taranga

the last bit goes back to norway and one of my favorite writers... a quote from knut hamsun's a wanderer plays on muted strings:

"i stood for a long time upon the hillside, listening to the sough from heaven and earth; there was nothing else to be heard. then there might come a rustling sound, which would prove to be a shriveled, curled up leaf fluttering down through the frozen branches; it was like listening to a tiny fountain. then heaven and earth would sough again, a mildness enveloped me, as though all my strings were muted."